Empathy as part of moral development
We all like to think of ourselves as good people and moral. We do the right thing. That belief is often a mistaken belief. Our feelings hijack our willingness to help people, sometimes, even our partner.
Do you lean into your feelings or avoid them?
A homeless person is standing at the corner-
Do you look away because you can’t deal with your feelings?
Do you blame that one individual for a system that created 500,000 homeless people that night? Are you afraid that they might possibly not be homeless and the water you give them is them taking advantage of you?
Do you feel hopeless and that your $5 gift of a case of water “won’t do anything?”
Play with that logic for a moment- Have you ever been incredibly thirsty and thoroughly satisfied with a drink of water, so much so that you never needed to drink water in the future?
Look at your answers to those questions and now consider your spouse/partner.
When you get discouraged in your relationship, do you give up or do you encourage yourself and look for a way to be better partners?
We all like to think of ourselves as good people and moral. We do the right thing. That belief is often a mistaken belief. Our feelings hijack our willingness to help people, sometimes, even our partner.
Do you lean into your feelings or avoid them?
A homeless person is standing at the corner-
Do you look away because you can’t deal with your feelings?
Do you blame that one individual for a system that created 500,000 homeless people that night? Are you afraid that they might possibly not be homeless and the water you give them is them taking advantage of you?
Do you feel hopeless and that your $5 gift of a case of water “won’t do anything?”
Play with that logic for a moment- Have you ever been incredibly thirsty and thoroughly satisfied with a drink of water, so much so that you never needed to drink water in the future?
Look at your answers to those questions and now consider your spouse/partner.
When you get discouraged in your relationship, do you give up or do you encourage yourself and look for a way to be better partners?
RSS Feed
